Oh Mark, don’t get me started on this president’s drive for democracy. Bush’s democracy and freedom campaign is only a media stunt to divert critics away from his failed policies. He only hopped on this freedom train after his reasons for going to war in Iraq were proven to be false. That’s not to say that the aftermath of the invasion did not produce positive results for Iraqis. However, a friendly government in Iraq is most likely will be friendly to Iran and not the US. Nice blunder Mr. President. He could have avoided the mess in Iraq if he listened to independent experts on the region, instead of pro-Israeli terrorism “think tanks.”

Most of the world and half of America think that this president is misguided. In fact any change he has achieved in the Middle East is by shear force and intimidation and not because reality on the ground was ripe for this change. This is surprising considering the abundance of information in academia and government institutions. It seems that this president does not want to be confused by the facts. He surrounds himself with right-wing ideologues who are like him refuse to let facts and figures dissuade them from their views. Lebanon is a case in point. His disconnect from reality in Lebanon is driving his position on the issues touching Lebanon. Ignoring Lebanon’s history and using an internal Lebanese issue to pressure Syria on its position regarding Iraq and Israel, is clearly seen by people of the Middle East as the real reason behind his democracy push policy. Siding with the small Lebanese opposition to be embarrassed later by a huge counter demonstration by pro-Syrians Lebanese further undermines his credibility as an informed president. I wonder who collects the facts for this president before he forms his policies. Whoever this person or organization is, they need to be fired. But this implies that this president cares about the facts. His continuous blunders prove otherwise.